Rumor: SARFT Orders PPTV to Cease Supporting Illegal STBs
Sohu IT, 10/26/11
An industry source revealed today that China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) had recently criticized P2P streaming video platform PPLive (PPTV) and ordered the platform to cease providing internet video content services to set-top box (STB) manufacturers. Diyomate, Dievon, Kaiboer, and Linking are among the Chinese set-top box (i.e. home theater PC) makers embedding PPTV's services. A salesperson for one of the companies denied that the company had been ordered to halt sales of their devices in late July. When contacted for comment, PPTV denied that it had ever provided internet video content services to the companies listed, as doing so would contravene SARFT regulations.
This July, SARFT issued the Memorandum Regarding the Strict Prohibition of Providing Audiovisual Programming Over Internet-Connected Television Set-Top Boxes, in which it criticized unnamed websites for attempting to skirt broadcast regulations for the transmission of internet content. The Memorandum forbade all websites from serving as content providers for companies illegally developing internet television services.
According to the source, SARFT has stepped up the pace on efforts to draft regulations for internet-enabled set-top boxes, which are set to be released later this month.
Keywords: Internet television PPLive SARFT P2P set-top box online video regulation Internet TV
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